Thwarted by red tape in his attempts to take part in the 2001 Caribbean Squash Championships, Gary Plumstead took out his frustration on team-mate Nick Kyme in an all-Bermuda finale to this year's event.

Plumstead, who was not allowed to play two years ago because he had not been resident on the Island for long enough, beat Kyme in four games in front of a packed Centre Court Crowd in Barbados on Sunday night.

The South African, who dropped only two games on his way to the title, was pushed extremely hard by the 22-year-old Bermudian, the only player in the tournament quick enough and fit enough to deal with Plumstead's exemplary shot making.

As the match wore on, however, with both players breathing heavily, it became increasingly clear that the long, energy sapping matches that Kyme had endured on his way to the final had taken their toll.

The first game was taken by Plumstead 9-4, the player capitalising on a number of costly mistakes by Kyme at the front of the court. It was obvious, however, that Plumstead would not be allowed to dominate the game from the centre of the court as he had done during his mesmerising display in the semi-final against the Trinidadian Paul DeVerteuil.

Kyme came back strongly in the second, winning it 9-6 by improving his length and frequently sending his rival the wrong way with late flicks of the wrist. This was the first game that Kyme had ever won against Plumstead in tournament play.

Despite suffering from a chesty cough which was affecting his breathing, Plumstead stubbornly resisted Kyme's onslaught, taking the ball early on the volley and throwing up high lobs in order to disrupt his young opponent's rhythm.

After winning the third 9-4, Plumstead remained at his ruthless best in the fourth and by halfway through the game, Kyme had nothing more to give.

Plumstead was understandably ecstatic afterwards but confirmed that the task of overcoming the Island's No.2 was getting increasingly more difficult.

"At one-all I was definitely struggling and Nick had upped his game. I knew at that point that I would have to go for winners if I was to hold him off. Luckily, he had been on court a lot more than me over the course of the week and his endurance was not quite what it usually is," he said.

"But this victory has been two years in the making. I went down to the Bahamas in 2001 only to be told I was not eligible to play because I had not been resident in Bermuda for long enough. I was incredibly frustrated and that disappointment has been my inspiration throughout the week."

Although he conceded that he was gradually getting closer to Plumstead and that he had played his best squash of the event so far, Kyme was nevertheless disappointed afterwards.

"I should have won the first game," he said. "I made four stupid errors when the point was mine for the taking in that game and if I had won the first it might have been a different story. Still, Gary was his usual excellent self and I ran out of gas as the match went on."

Meanwhile, there was another Bermudian triumph in the final of the Consolation draw where the young James Stout defeated the No.4 ranked player in Guyana Julian Chin.

A relatively straightforward victory seemed very much on the cards after Stout surged into a 2-0 lead, maintaining a decent length as his somewhat casual opponent produced a succession of unforced errors.

For some inexplicable reason, however, Stout completely took his foot off the pedal and by allowing his opponent to grow in confidence, he lost the next two games 5-9, 5-9.

To the Bermudian contingent's obvious relief however, the 19-year-old pulled himself together in the final game and despite some sustained resistance, he polished off the victory 9-6.

The tournament now moves into the team event and despite having the top two ranked players, Bermuda has been seeded six and has been placed in a pool group with Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.

Despite what some might see as an inappropriate seeding for such a strong five-man team consisting of Plumstead, Kyme, Stout, Tommy Sherratt and Sam Stevens, manager Ross Triffitt is not overly worried.

"The seedings really do not matter to us because in order to win the team tournament we will have to beat the best teams at some stage," he said. "It does not matter to me whether we do it in the pool stages or in the knockouts. We are expecting some very tough competition, especially from defending champions Guyana, but we are quietly confident that if everybody plays well on the day we will bring the title back home."